rtificial Comedy; Thackeray's Essay on Congreve, in
English Humorists.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS. 1. What marked change in social conditions followed
the Restoration? How are these changes reflected in literature?

2. What are the chief characteristics of Restoration literature? Why is
this period called the Age of French influence? What new tendencies were
introduced? What effect did the Royal Society and the study of science have
upon English prose? What is meant by realism? by formalism?

3. What is meant by the heroic couplet? Explain why it became the
prevailing form of English poetry. What are its good qualities and its
defects? Name some well-known poems which are written in couplets. How do
Dryden's couplets compare with Chaucer's? Can you explain the difference?

4. Give a brief account of Dryden's life. What are his chief poetical
works? For what new object did he use poetry? Is satire a poetical subject?
Why is a poetical satire more effective than a satire in prose? What was
Dryden's contribution to English prose? What influence did he exert on our
literature?

5. What is Butler's _Hudibras_? Explain its popularity. Read a passage and
comment upon it, first, as satire; second, as a description of the
Puritans. Is _Hudibras_ poetry? Why?

6. Name the philosophers and political economists of this period. Can you
explain why Hobbes should call his work _Leviathan_? What important
American documents show the influence of Locke?

7. Tell briefly the story of Pepys and his _Diary_. What light does the
latter throw on the life of the age? Is the _Diary_ a work of literature?
Why?

CHRONOLOGY
_Last Half of the Seventeenth Century_
=====================================================================
HISTORY | LITERATURE
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
1649. Execution of Charles I |
|
1649-1660. Commonwealth | 1651. Hobbes's Leviathan
|
1660. Restoration of Charles II | 1660-1669, Pepys's Diary
|
| 1662. Royal Society founded
|
| 1663. Butler's Hudibras
1665-1666. Plague and Fire of London |
War with Ho